Monday, June 9, 2008

"Bakersfield carrot farmer William Bolthouse donated $100,000 to an initiative aiming to fight gay marriage — a measure that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot along with the presidential race. The initiative qualified for the ballot Monday, less than a month after the state Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage. June 17 marks the date when California counties will be permitted to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The National Organization for Marriage California donated $700,000 to the campaign. One of the organization’s largest financial contributors includes Bolthouse, who declined to comment about his donation Tuesday. The measure’s proponents said the campaign to promote the initiative may exceed $30 million. Supporters have spent about $1.8 million to collect signatures and publicize the initiative, according to campaign filings. Other supporters include San Diego developer Terry Caster ($172,000); hotel developer Manchester Financial Group of San Diego ($125,000); Fieldstead and Co. of Irvine ($400,000) and Knights of Columbus Headquarters in Connecticut ($250,000).

According to Wikipedia, Bolthouse sold a 57% majority stake in the company two years ago but his family still controls the remainder."

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments with us. The Bolthouse Foundation is a private foundation funded by some of the former owners of Wm. Bolthouse Farms, Inc. The foundation is a separate entity and is not connected to Bolthouse Farms. Furthermore, they do not receive financial support or benefit from the profits of Bolthouse Farms. We appreciate your concern and apologize for the confusion. Thank you for taking the time to contact us, and we hope you will continue to enjoy our products.

If we may be of further assistance, please write or call our Customer Service line at (800) 467-4683.

I used to work for an organic food market and, knowing some of the current distributors for the organization, I know that there are many Christians still working for the company. Not that this means that they are necessarily homophobic, or endorsing this support by Mr. Bolthouse, but it is something to take note of.

miss vicki - he obviously didn't have enough carrot juice to see how clearly bigoted he is LOL.

dharma - i got the same response - from what I am told Jeremy Hooper over at goodasyou.org says this is the generic response and gay activists have info that there is indeed a connection beyond what they are saying.

alex - its a shame that they would do this, even if they espouse anti-queer sentiment you would think they want our money. hmm.

If you check out their corporate philosophy, we find "The purpose of this Company is to glorify God through our business transactions, our work, and our relationships. It is further our desire to bring honor and glory to the Name of Jesus Christ by following God's Word in all of our dealings with employees, suppliers, and customers. God's Work as contained in His Inspired Scriptures will be the final authority in all Corporate matters concerning direction, decisions, and disputes."

While not all Christians are bigots, "Inspired Scriptures" is grounds for reasonable suspicion of potential bigotry, IMHO.

Have you ever tasted their carrot juice? It's rich and creamy and tastes like fresh picked carrots. Boycott all you want fwiw but buy a small bottle of the stuff and see what you are missing. Besides, the company explained they are not connected to the former owner's philanthropic foundation. So you can have your carrot cake and eat it too!

I contacted the company. Then contacted their distributors:Ralph'sAlbertson'sFood 4 LessWalgreen'sHenry'swith the following email. Perhaps other's can do the same."It has been brought to my attention that Bolthouse Farms donated $100,000 to support discrimination and to write discrimination into our Constitution. I am a professional and a regular customer of your store. I understand that you carry Bolthouse products. As an American who believes in the basis on which this country was founded, "equality for all" and freedom from mindless discrimination and hatred, I ask that you send a clear message to Bolthouse that you will not support discrimination of any kind against any group or individual. I am joining the large group of Americans and Californians who are boycotting Bolthouse and I hope they learn an important lesson about the rights of individuals and the power of the consumer. I hope you will support this endeavor!

Thank you for your support of equality and freedom from discrimination for all!"

I'd like to mention that you are on my radar (not 'gay-dar', I'm straight), as a result of Prop H8.

I never had much tolerance for intolerant hypo-christians.

As I understand it, Bolthouse still owns quite a bit of your company.

I noted in your response (posted on queersunited.blogspot.com) the absence of any statement about how your company really does support equal rights (like perhaps an insurance or family leave stance).

So, while your product continues to be profiting assholes, and isn't taking a stance on the issue itself (and it IS a Californian company), I'll be sure to purchase another brand.

Perhaps when the jerk's sold his stock, you've taken his name off the packages, and replaced it with a nice rainbow, I'll buy them again.

The xian right has been promulgating this 'battle' as a war for decades now, so it's about time that someone fought back. I haven't been much to instigate a culture war, but if it's war, I don't personally want to lose.

Living in a world full of intolerant people who babble about how much they love would be, for me, losing.

The gloves are off. You guys just ended up at the vanguard because you were on the top of the list. Bolthouse might tell his friends, though.

When buying Bolthouse brand puts no money in the hands of a Bolthouse, you might get mine.